Pointless Reading
by TheLivingFayth
Summary: Reading any book brings something in the end. Every book has a point. AlecxMagnus. Rated T for now.
1. Handbook

The only noise that filled the room's silence was the ticking of the grandfather clock. The only noise heard through his ears was the pounding of his own heart. Did waiting always take this long?

Alec's eyes shifted from the shaggy, black rug to stare at the peeling white paint on the door several feet from the armchair he sat in. The young Shadowhunter didn't know why he needed to be there. Isabelle would start to worry. His parents would start to worry. But they should be able to guess by now who he was constantly running off to wait for. He'd been doing this for two months now. They must have realized by now that it was the high warlock he was running off to search for.

Waiting in this used bookstore for the warlock hadn't been something he'd had in mind. Why the bookstore anyways? It's not like the warlock, Magnus, could expect to find one of his spell books around here. Even if he could, he should have been here by now. Instead, Alec was left waiting for an entire hour and a half. No, he wasn't early. He had arrived on time and was trying desperately to keep himself patient. That was turning out to be quite hard when it came to Magnus.

Shifting so that he had his legs pulled up beside him on the chair, the thoughts of taking a nap in the store was becoming quite appealing to Alec. But the moment his eyes fell shut, pressure was placed on his thigh and what seemed like needles injected themselves into his leg.

Alec's eyes snapped open, only to find a green-eyed, tabby cat climbing over his leg and into his lap. He'd almost forgotten that the store owner was one of those cat lovers. But, over the months, Alec had grown to become quite attached to the felines as well.

Purring was heard from the cat as it rubbed its head against the shadowhunter's hand. The cat got what it wanted as Alec's fingers slipped behind its head and rubbed behind its ears. But the feline was jumping down from the boy's lap as a calm, old voice called out the creature's name.

Alec sat himself up again and stretched out his arms. Pulling the sleeves of his fading black sweater over his hands, he got up from the chair and found the need to look around. He'd look but not buy. He wasn't there for himself. He was there for Magnus. But it wouldn't hurt to take a look. Perhaps he'd find something that would catch his interest. Being quite the reader, that wouldn't be all that hard.

Pale fingers brushed over both torn and new bindings. Blue eyes gazed over words of many languages. Fiction and non-fiction. Science, history, fantasy. There wasn't anything you couldn't find in a used bookstore. Alec walked down each row of bookshelves, only glancing at the books that were before his vision. Just by touching them, he felt like he knew what they were about. He didn't need to see the cover to judge the book. He just knew and his fingers didn't seem to lie to him.

Although Alec's fingers stopped on one book, his feet kept walking. But he quickly pulled his hand away and stopped his footsteps. As his eyes glanced back at the book his fingers stopped on, he flinched. Why that one? Of all the books.

The _'How to Make him Love You'_ Handbook.

Magnus loved Alec. That was a fact. But could Alec make the warlock love him more?

Alec tore the book from the shelf and fell to a cross-legged position on the floor. He dropped the book to the hard-wood floor and stared down at the curvy black letters that were neatly typed across the red cover. His hand shook as it hovered over the cover. He found that his eyes were closed at the time that he slipped his fingers between the pages and opened to what was near the middle of the book. Alec allowed one of his eyes to crack open and he was immediately drawn to the bold headline at the top of the page.

_Chapter Four: Pick-up Lines and How to Use Them._

Not good. Alec skimmed over the chapter introduction, which just had to take up an entire three pages. Then it moved on to a list of pick-up lines for girls to use on the male gender. Some seemed as though they could be used by either gender though. Alec flipped to the next page and didn't move as he scanned through the lines.

_I thought about introducing you to my sister, but I'm not that generous._

_Are you going to ask me out, or do I have to lie to my diary?_

_My girlfriend thinks we should meet and go out because we'd be perfect for each other._

Who in their right mind would use these lines? You couldn't get anyone to love you by throwing those words at your object of affection. At least, Alec was pretty sure that people couldn't. But what if it was possible? Alec could try. Just a line or two so that he could see how Magnus would react. If it didn't work, he'd throw the book away. Even if it did work, he'd toss away the book. No normal soul would use those things more than just once or twice.

A hand on his shoulder brought Alec from his reading. He gazed up at the man who stared down at him and snapped the book shut with his hand over the title so that it couldn't be seen. If it were anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered. But having the owner of those cat-like eyes being the one watching him, Alec couldn't allow the book to be seen.

"The traffic today was unbelievable. Excuse my lateness," Magnus apologized with a deep sigh. He held his hand out to the boy to help him up to his feet.

Alec's fingers curled around the edge of the edge of the book as he slowly slipped it up the front of his sweater so that it could no longer be seen. His free hand reached up to grab the warlock's and he was on his feet in no time.

"Magnus, you don't drive," Alec pointed out with a confused expression as he wrapped his arms around himself to hold the book against his chest. His mind was more on the book than the fact that you can't get stuck in traffic without a car.

The older man's arm slipped around Alec's shoulders as he pulled the boy forward to walk with him. "Yes, but is it wrong to walk in traffic?"

Alec's head lowered at Magnus's words and he chose not to give his reply, knowing that the man would only try again to make it all sound normal. Instead, he just leaned in against the warlock's body and matched his pace. If it weren't for the voice calling to him, he probably would have forgotten about both his surroundings and the book in his arms.

"Young Shadowhunter?"

Alec jumped and Magnus stopped him so that they could hear the words of the old shopkeeper. But it's not like Alec would hear him anyways. His heart was pounding at the thought of almost committing thievery. Alec turned his head to watch the old man put his cane down on the front desk and smile at him.

"Good luck."

Alec wasn't sure what he could say to the shopkeeper. The man always had this talent of knowing things that he shouldn't. But asking questions or making comments now would only bring questions from Magnus's mouth as well. So Alec didn't speak. Instead, he allowed the warlock to pull him from the bookstore and in the direction of a location known to only him.

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I rarely write fanfiction, so you tell me... is it good? Or no? I have later chapters planned out. Ask for another chapter and it will be given.


	2. Headache

Soo sorry that this took so long. I'm just not use to having billions of people telling me to update and it possibly scared me off. But it's here now! And I apologize for the fact that this may be considered M rated, but it's nothing bad. Just talking. Suggestive themes is all. To young readers, I warn you for the fact that, in the future, it may be M rated and, if it is, I'll warn you so that you can skip the chapter and not be scarred for life. Capiche? ^_^

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The front door to Magnus' home was reached and Alec never spoke a word on the way there. He was too busy trying to figure out how he'd make these pick-up lines work. Yet Magnus walked beside him, chattering away about his walk through traffic and some old lady he decided to help across the street until she hit him with her purse and called him a hooligan. Alec wasn't listening to the warlock so much. He was nodding his head now and then, maybe even giving a mumble of a yes, that's cool or weird. Alec was just thankful that Magnus didn't seem to be getting suspicious of Alec's lack of speaking.

"Wait here, Nephilim, while I get some tea started. That's when we can talk or stare at each other or do whatever I, or you, feel up to doing," Magnus told the boy when they were through the door. He seemed to pat Alec's head before wandering off to the kitchen while humming a tune that was only familiar to him. Well, perhaps not. But Alec didn't recognize the tune.

Glancing in the direction, Alec decided to disobey the warlock's words. Rather than staying where he was, he wandered off into another direction. He knew his way around this place so well that it took mere moments before Alec was in the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Alec's back pressed to the door as he slid down and sat himself on the floor. He pulled the book he'd taken from the used bookstore out from his sweater and lay it out in front of him. It was to a random page. One with more pick-up lines.

_Can I take a picture of you so I can show Santa just what I want for Christmas?_

_Life without you would be like a broken pencil... pointless._

_I must be a snowflake 'cause I've fallen for you._

Alec groaned and brought his fingers to knot in his hair while shaking his head. None of these lines were what he was looking for. They were completely cheesy. He needed one that wouldn't make Magnus laugh at him or guess that he was purposely, well, _flirting_ with him. But the more he looked through these lines, he more he thought that finding one he could use would be a lost cause.

A voice called from outside the door and Alec jumped away from it. The book fell closed and he quickly turned his head to stare at the white door behind him. The voice came again. Of course, it was Magnus. Who else would it be? Maybe Chairman Meow. Alec wouldn't doubt if Magnus could find a spell to make that cat start talking after all.

"Y-yea, I'll be out in a minute," Alec called back as he pulled himself back to his feet. He quickly grabbed the book and threw it open to a random page. He needed a line now. Any line. He just needed something he could use on the high warlock so that he could find out the man's reaction to lines like these.

The first line he saw was memorized and he shut the book again. Without thinking, he threw it in the cupboard under the sink, hoping that it would be a good place to hide it. After all, what reason would Magnus have to go under there? Unless he decided to start cleaning in less magical ways.

Alec slipped from the bathroom and stumbled down the hallway before reaching the living room. He stared at the warlock who sat on the couch and the warlock stared at him in return. "I... I was looking for Advil," Alec quickly lied as he sat himself down right beside Magnus on the couch. It was the only lie he could think up. He didn't actually have a headache, but he could pretend that he did. Especially since it fit in the with line he took from the handbook.

Magnus sipped from his cup of herbal tea and watched the boy. "Something wrong, Alexander? Are you feeling sick? The tea might help." he informed him as he held out the cup of tea he'd brought for the Shadowhunter.

Shaking his head, Alec took in a deep breath and turned his head to stare at the warlock. "Well, I have a big headache and... well, I hear the best cure for headaches is sex. S-so, how about we go to your room and, you know, work out a remedy?" Alec stuttered as he felt his face heat up deeply. Why that line? Of all the lines his eyes had to fall on in that book, it just had to be one as embarrassing as that. With a line like that, it was obvious that Alec was completely hitting on the warlock.

Magnus didn't seem to show any reaction. He took another sip of his tea and, with his eyes close, slowly put it on the table and place his hands I his lap. The warlock smiled and glanced at Alec through his cat-like eyes. "Really now? A headache? Well then, if sex is the cure, it's sex I can give you. After all, my dick has been feeling a bit dead lately and I was hoping you'd be able to give it mouth to mouth at some point."

Alec actually jumped back to the opposite side of the couch from Magnus as his eyes widened. "M-Magnus! No! Definitely no," he quickly said to him as he tried to move back farther, only to slip off the edge of the couch. But he recovered quickly and was on his feet. "How could you say such a thing?"

That same smile was still on the warlock's face. "You started it, Shadowhunter. This is the High Warlock of Brooklyn that you're talking to. If you're gonna use lines like that, you should expect similar lines in return," Magnus pointed out as he leaned against the arm of the couch and brushed a few stray hairs from his eyes. The ones that escaped from the rest that were all gelled up in random directions.

That was something Alec should have known. So many of the things that Magnus had said to him in the past could easily have been labeled as pick-up lines. The warlock was probably the master of pick-up lines and could most likely come up with a reply to any of them. "S-sorry. I just... I have to use the bathroom," Alec lied again as he almost ran back to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him, making sure to lock it.

"Does this mean we're not having sex?"

Those were the last words he heard from Magnus for the rest of the day. Alec was too embarrassed to leave the safety of the bathroom again. His parents would worry but, knowing Magnus, he'd call them and come up with an excuse as to why Alec wasn't coming home. Alec could only hope that it wasn't some embarrassing excuse that was told to his parents. It would only make Alec feel so much more awkward in the end.


End file.
